Recently, a new transportation system has attracted attention as an alternative transportation means to a bus or a train. As a type of such a new transportation system, a type that causes a vehicle having travel wheels made of rubber tires to travel along a central guide rail is known.
As a branching device of a track transportation system equipped with such a central guide rail, i.e. a central guide type track transportation system, for instance, a device disclosed in Patent Document 1 below is known.
Such a branching device is equipped with a travel track of a branch part that is a crossing portion of a main line and a branch line, a central guide rail disposed in the center of the travel track, and a switching mechanism integrally shifting the travel track and the central guide rail. This switching mechanism integrally shifts the travel track and the central guide rail between a position at which the travel track and the central guide rail are directed to a direction parallel to the main line and a position at which the travel track and the central guide rail are directed to a direction parallel to the branch line.